In a rebuttal to Jonathan Bernstein, Nate Silver makes it:
The other potential flaw [with Bernstein's analysis] is in assuming that name recognition itself is something exogenous from candidate quality. In plain English: the fact that a candidate hasn’t been very successful at getting voters to recognize his name is often a sign that he is an unremarkable candidate.
2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan